Will state prisons end congestion?

Prison congestion in Nigeria, which predates the country’s independence, seems to have defied all solutions. Daily, human rights groups and stakeholders in the criminal justice system decry the state of prisons in the country and its attendant adverse effects on the economy, society and the inmates; and there seems to be no solution.

Although many recommendations have been made in the past on how to curb the menace, last week’s call by the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Philips, for states to be empowered to build and run their own prisons to curb congestion has, again, brought the issue to the front bunner.

Justice Philips, at the launch of a book, ‘‘A Reformatory Approach to Criminal Justice System in Nigeria’’, written in her honour, spoke of the need for the National Assembly to remove prisons from the Exclusive to the Concurrent List, so that states can build and manage prisons. She said by so doing congestion in the prisons would be tackled as the Federal Government has shown no interest in building new prisons or upgrading existing ones.

The CJ, who had, on September 25, released 248 awaiting trial inmates during the annual prisons visit to celebrate a new legal year expressed surprised that more inmates were being held than she met the previous year. She released 375 in 2012,

The Amnesty International had, on various occasions, accused Nigeria of gross human rights abuses of inmates. It has been established that although the country’s prisons were overcrowded, more than 70 per cent of those held are awaiting trials, some of whom have spent several years behind bar.

Many Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief in January, when the National Assembly (Senate) passed for a second reading, the bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Justice (release from custody) (Special Provision) Act, 2004, to empower the Chief Justice of the Federation and Chief Judges of states to release inmates unlawfully detained or who have been incarcerated for longer periods than they would have served if convicted for their alleged offences monthly. But, 10 months down the line, nothing more has been heard of the said bill.

As at January, a total of 54,156 persons were reportedly held across the 235 prisons in the country, a development which has threatened and questioned the reformatory abilities of prison incarceration.

It was discovered during Justice Philips’ last visit that of 2,555 inmates at the Medium Security Prison,Kirikiri, built for 1,700, awaiting trials accounted for 2,457, while convicted persons were 98. At the Maximum Security Prison, Kirikiri, there were 748 inmates, with 546 of them awaiting trial, 126 condemned and 76 convicted. The situation at the Ikoyi Prison was not different, with 1, 671 awaiting trial of a total of 1,835 inmates while 164 have been convicted. At the Kirikiri Female Prison, 167 of the 207 inmates were awaiting trial while 40 were convicts. This figure corroborates that released by the Prisons’ spokesman, Ope Fatinikun, who stated that there are 1,114 female inmates in prisons across the country with 840 of them awaiting trial, 25 condemned and eight lifers.

According to Fatinikun, there are 811 juveniles in the prisons. He gave details as follows: Bostal Training Institutions-Kaduna, 402; Ilorin, 224 and Abeokuta 185.

Many have argued that the situation, as depicted by statistics from prisons across the country, has defeated the very purpose of establishing prisons in any society, principal among which is to serve as a correctional facility for the betterment of the inmates and the society.

Besides the national scandal, prison overpopulation has led to the several incidents of jail breaks in many parts of the country with the attendant security risk as both convicted and detained prisoners often disappear without a trace.

Analysts believe that with overcrowded prisons, categorisation of inmates will be difficult, forcing prison officials to bundle them together. This, they said, would put hardened criminals and first timers together, thus making reformation impossible.

Also, they are of the view that keeping the inmates in overcrowded cells with very poor quality food, poor ventilation and hygiene make them susceptible to various diseases.

Although lawyers have supported the CJ’s call for states to build and manage prisons, they said that alone cannot put an end to prison congestion. They insisted that the menace goes beyond building prisons since most inmates are awaiting trial.

To them, addressing the situation calls for all stakeholders – police, federal and state ministries of justice, lawyers, the courts and complainants – to live up to their responsibilities, so that trials will be conducted and completed in due time.

Obayuwana said solving the problem goes beyond allowing states to build and run prisons, noting that prison congestion is caused by the negligence of stakeholders in the criminal justice system.

‘‘Right now, it is the police that investigate and so, they are necessary witnesses. The Investigating Police Officer (IPO) is a necessary witness but when the police exercise their administrative function of transfer of officers, they do not have regard for their obligations on matters pending in court.

‘‘So, when they transfer them from one state to the other, provisions are not made for them to come back and conclude the cases they are witnesses in, which are pending in court.

‘‘There is the problem of the inefficiency of the police system; the prison authority’s challenges in moving inmates to prisons across the state; frequent adjournments of cases to suit lawyers, who have limitless reasons to call for adjournment without consideration for the prison authorities, as well as members of the public, who are witnesses but do not show up in courts because they do not appreciate their civic responsibility.

‘‘There is also the problem of judges and magistrates, who are at liberty to decide when to sit on certain matters. They also have many conferences and seminars to attend and Nigeria has many holidays. So, all these issues put together are responsible for congestion.”

He went on: ‘‘So, proper diagnoses of the cause must be appreciated in order to get a solution. There are many players in the administration of justice and so, a systematic approach is needed to decongest prisons. Each one has to realise the effects of their lapses and the problems it will create for the system.

‘‘The call for the removal of prisons from the exclusive list is in order because in a true federalism, states should manage their own prisons and police but that alone cannot address prison congestion. So, there should be prompt and efficient administration of justice.”

Quakers said the Federal Government can no longer cope with the management and control of prisons, particularly when viewed against the backdrop that most of the prison inmates are awaiting trial.

Their custodial incarceration, he said, is largely due to alleged breach of state laws handed down by either the Magistrates’ or High Courts of the states through a “holding charge”.

According to him, the country is long overdue for an amendment of the Constitution in relation to prisons and policing.

‘‘As it is in other developed climes, I believe in a federal system of government. The federating states and the local governments can share responsibilities over the establishment, control and management of prisons and other custodial institutions with the Federal Government including policing.

‘‘But in Nigeria, we have politicised things that will ordinarily aid and bring about an efficient, effective and smooth administration of justice. The burden on the Federal Government is too heavy and it needs to shed some in the light of the current realities in the polity. For instance, police and prison establishments, management and control should not remain the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government and should be removed from the Exclusive List of the Constitution to the Residual List.

‘‘I am aware that the government of Akwa-Ibom State has built a state-of-the-art prison for the Federal Government to manage and control. While the gesture is laudable, it erodes the concept of true federalism, particularly when viewed against the backdrop of the dichotomy of offences between the states and the Federal Government which is covered by separate and distinct criminal legislations.

‘‘Therefore, it can be argued that because our criminal justice system recognises two categories of offences and offenders from the perspective of breach of state or federal legislation, prosecuted by federal or state prosecutors in state or federal institutions, it underscores the need for the establishment of state prisons for state offenders and federal prisons for federal prisoners,’’ he said.

Agbaje said since accused persons sent to prisons are from state and federal courts, there is nothing wrong with allowing states and even local governments to establish prisons.

He accused Attorneys-General of encouraging congestion, through the delay in issuing legal advice in respect of pending cases, just as he accused governments at all levels of not paying adequate attention to the prisons.

He said aside the removal of prisons from the Exclusive List, the Federal Government must give states and local governments more money in terms of allocation to fund prisons

‘‘They look at the issue of prison with disdain forgetting that it is human beings that are kept there. The issue of prison decongestion and the need to remove prisons from the Exclusive List must be discussed at the national conference.

‘‘It is time we moved away from criminalising all sorts of offences. All sorts of laws are set up without commensurate creation of prisons. Since more offences are created by local, state and the Federal governments, I suggest that communal and suspended sentences be introduced for minor offences,’’ he said.

Ikeji said states taking over the building and running of prisons will not solve the problem as the major cause is the failure of the justice system. He agreed that there is the need to unbundle the Exclusive List.

‘‘The point is that building and management of prisons as a function is different from instituting a quick dispensation of justice. It is also likely that state Police may come in handy in effecting the desired changes in the congestion of prisons.

‘‘Removing prison from the Exclusive Legislative List is a good idea and I support it but I do not think that, in itself, will lead to a complete solution to prison congestion. The solution lies in the entire criminal justice administration system.

‘‘I am in support of taking prisons away from the Exclusive List because it will strengthen the move towards true federalism, which is the structural change that Nigeria needs at this time,’’ Ikeji said.

For Adetola-Kazeem, vesting states with powers to build and run prison is a good idea, but an entirely different matter from congestion. He stated that overcrowding of prisons was largely due to the lapses of the police, Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the judiciary.

‘‘The police sometimes fail to forward their case file for DPP advice in cases of a capital nature, making the accused stay in prison for longer than necessary without trial.

‘‘For the DPP, the advice is written that some awaiting trial inmates have cases to answer but no effort is made to ensure that they are tried for the offences they have been alleged to have committed.

“In other cases, an advice is written that they have no case to answer but the matter is not followed-up to ensure that they are released based on the advice.

“In a case I handled, an advice was written in 2008 that some boys have no case to answer, but there was no follow-up until 2012 when the court released them based on an application we brought on their behalf.”

Adetola-Kazeem continued: ‘‘For the judiciary, they contribute to prison congestion by delaying trials unnecessarily and sometimes over indulging indolent prosecutors. They also sentence people to prison terms for minor offences when community service would have sufficed.

“A case study is that of a magistrate who sentenced some underaged persons to 390 days in prison for committing minor offences.

‘‘I believe if more prisons are built and managed by the states, it would complement those built and managed by the Federal Government.

“Furthermore, most offences are state offences. The state would, therefore, ensure that people are not thrown into prison for no just cause if it realises that funds that would have been used for other beneficial projects are used in feeding inmates who have no business being in prison.

‘‘Removing prison matters from the Exclusive Legislative List and allowing states to build and manage prisons will not solve the problem of prison congestion if there is no positive change on the part of actors in the administration of criminal justice system – the police, prosecutors, judges and magistrates,’’ he said.